A blog about developments in the nongovernmental, nonprofit, charitable sector in China.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The Launch of Tsinghua University’s Institute for Philanthropy

When I was in Beijing this first week of
November, I had the opportunity to attend the Tsinghua International Conference
on Philanthropy （公益慈善国际研讨会）announcing
the opening of the Tsinghua University Institute for Philanthropy（公益慈善研究院）.The conference was held at the Wenjin International Hotel in the
Tsinghua Science Park on November 5, 2015.

True to the conference’s name, both overseas
and Chinese guests were invited. The international guests included the
president of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR), the
dean of Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy, Chairman of the Asian
Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), chair of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Program,
along with other academics and NGO representatives from Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan. The Chinese guests included officials from Tsinghua University, the
Ministry of Civil Affairs and the All-China Federation of Industry and
Commerce, the head of the One Foundation, and leading lights from the academic
world such as Wang Ming (the dean of China’s NGO studies and the Dean of the
Institute of Philanthropy), Deng Guosheng, Kang Xiaoguang from Renmin
University, Jin Jiping from Beijing University, Tao Chuangjin from Beijing
Normal University, and Zhu Jiangang from Sun Yatsen University.

For those steeped in the history of NGO
studies in China, the opening of the Institute is an important event because of
the place Tsinghua occupies in NGO studies. Tsinghua established one of the
earliest NGO Research Centers back in the late 1990s. That center published the
first Directory of Chinese NGOs in back in the early 2000s, and Tsinghua
scholars such as Wang Ming, Deng Guosheng, and Jia Xijin have played an instrumental
role in promoting the field of NGO studies, and in pushing for an enabling
regulatory environment for NGOs through their work. Currently the center
publishes China’s leading journal on NGOs, the China Nonprofit Review (中国非营利评论).

Notably, the Institute was set up jointly
by Tsinghua University and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.It will be directly under the university and
separate from the School for Public Administration and Policy which houses the
NGO Research Center. Unlike the School
for Public Administration and Policy, the Institute willnot have degree programs of its own. It is only
a research institute for now, although that may change in the future.

The themes of this two-day conference are
cross-boundary, innovation and sharing. Plenary session 1 addresses the essence
of philanthropy; session 2 examines borderless philanthropy; session 3looks at philanthropic innovation and the
market; and session 4 discusses the power of philanthropy. I was only able to stay for the opening
remarks, and had to miss the plenary sessions.

Toward the end of the opening remarks, the
Associate Dean of the Institute, Wang Chao (who spent much of his career in the
NGO world working for international NGOs such as World Wildlife Fund and World
Vision) introduced the Ci-Lab (“ci” as in philanthropy or charity) or Social
Innovation Lab which will be one of the Institute’s programs set up with the
aim of promoting innovative ideas, individuals and organizations and matching
innovators with resources.

The newly-issued Charity Law draft was on
the lips of a number of the opening speakers, including the Ministry of Civil
Affairs official who mentioned that the Charity Law draft is now available for
public comment and hoped that it would be passed quickly. Professor Wang Ming
also spoke about how the Charity Law would provide a more open environment for
philanthropy in China and asked the audience to reflect on what the
post-Charity Law era would bring for Chinese philanthropy.